The
backdrop of this film is the life of George Jung. According to legend,
he almost single-handedly created the cocaine market in the United
States in the 70's.

If you think it's going to
be a drug movie, or an anti-drug movie, you're wrong. In the entire
film, there is virtually no portrayal of the consequences of drug use,
and there is not much time devoted to the consequences of drug
dealing. The film is not really judgmental about George's career choice. To
me, the real point of the film was the parallel between the lives of
George Jung and his father.

NUDITY REPORT

There is
considerable incidental nudity from background players and
extras, but none from the principals.

George's dad (Ray Liotta,
playing a nice guy beautifully, as I knew he could), was a man with
values. He was devoid of personal greed, he always forgave his
shrewish wife and doted on his son (Johnny Depp, excellent as always).
Ol' dad never cheated anyone, was loyal to his friends and family, and
was constantly being taken advantage of by baser, greedier
people. He had a na´vetÚ which led to a lifetime of financial
difficulties, because in the cutthroat business world, his integrity was
considered a fatal weakness by his unscrupulous friends. He build up a
solid little business with several trucks and several employees, but
he lost it all. When he hit bottom, he told his son that it wasn't
that important, that money wasn't what counted. His wife saw his
failure another way, and berated him constantly in front of the boy.

George, the future cocaine kingpin, grew up
in a different world, but ended up with a life almost identical to his
dad's, just on a different scale. Once, in his naive youth, after a dinner
with his parents, George and his first love had resolved never to end up
like like the older couple they had just dined with. Sadly and ironically, George lost the
girl (Lola Rennt's Franka Potente, speaking almost perfectly
unaccented English) to cancer, then ended up reliving his father's life
on a grander scale. George, too, was honest in his
dealings, was never greedy, never broke a promise, shared his good
times with the people he cared for, and rewarded anyone who did something
nice for him. Like his dad, he was considered a naive babe in the
woods by a string of unprincipled hard guys who gradually took more
and more of his pie. Just like his dad, he built a nice little empire,
then lost almost everything. When he hit rock bottom, there was a
scene precisely parallel to an earlier one with his parents, in which George's
wife berated him in front of their child for his lack of earning
power. When George went down, he insisted that the feds get his
ungrateful wife and daughter to safety, just as his own father had
always forgiven his ungrateful mother.

An evocative element of the
movie, at least for us aging boomers, was the uncomfortable transition of the
drug market's money-maker from marijuana to cocaine in the 70s,
which necessitated that George deal with gun-toting Colombians instead
of peaceful hippies and small farmers. George looked back on the
hippie marijuana days as the idyllic part of his life, filled with
songfests on the beach, laid-back friends, and good vibes. I guess you
probably know that most of us who lived through the 60's and 70's see
it the same way. Marijuana represented our youth, sweet times, mellow
vibes. It was associated with peace and love and music. Cocaine represented everything that
went wrong after the movement died: greed, violence, edginess,
material possessions, egocentrism. Watching George's transition in the
film brought back a lot of forgotten memories for me.

George was ultimately betrayed by
everyone he ever trusted, but you should not be deceived into thinking
this was some sort of behavior endemic to the cocaine business.
Business is business. It's
just that in that particular business, the stakes are higher than in
just about any other business, and that factor magnifies the greed.
Furthermore, that particular business is illegal, so it attracts people
who are comfortable outside the law, and that factor magnifies the danger.
George's product thus made his business more dangerous and more
cutthroat than his dad's, but aside from the nature of his product, George was just another failed
small-time entrepreneur like his dad. And like his dad, he knew that
wasn't really important.

He knew that his real failure was
with his own daughter. George's dad had been a success in one sense: he
managed to transmit a certain set of values to his son, and the two of
them developed a genuine bond and respect. George was not able to
establish this level of contact with his own child. George's
daughter never did make peace with him, and has to this date never
visited him in prison.

With their
dollars ... it grossed a very solid $52 million dollars,
compared to a budget of $30 million

IMDb
guideline: 7.5 usually indicates a level of
excellence, about like three and a half stars
from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm
watchability, about like two and a half stars
from the critics. The fives are generally not
worthwhile unless they are really your kind of
material, about like two stars from the critics.
Films under five are generally awful even if you
like that kind of film, equivalent to about one
and a half stars from the critics or less,
depending on just how far below five the rating
is.

My own
guideline: A means the movie is so good it
will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not
good enough to win you over if you hate the
genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an
open mind about this type of film. C means it will only
appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover
appeal. D means you'll hate it even if you
like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if
you love the genre. F means that the film is not only
unappealing across-the-board, but technically
inept as well.

Based on this
description, this film is a C+ or B-. I liked it, but I suppose
many people will not really take to this story of an ethical drug
smuggler. On the other hand, the DVD is an
A. If the story appeals to you at all, the DVD treatment couldn't be
much better. In addition to the deleted material and featurettes, this biopic features commentary by the director and
the real-life subject of the biography!